Archetypes and Origins

Overview The Blaster is for the gamer that wants to closely resemble a Black Mage, and for those out of the loop on the role-playing game "lingo" and are just in it for the superheroes, Black Mages fight with offensive magic. Whether it be fire spells, ice spells, thunder spells, you name it. The slight difference in City Of Heroes between a Black Mage and a Blaster is simple: not all of a Blaster's attacks (given you choose them) are magic. It all depends on your Origins, of course, but regardless, if you enjoy sitting in the back of the party and attacking things from behind your big Tanker's head, you will want to be a Blaster.

Playing Solo Blasters cannot take a whole lot of damage, which means that they are somewhat limited to fighting the less tough enemies be themselves. Soloing as a Blaster is fun, as you can pre-emptively attack an entire party of bad guys and possibly kill them all with this "sneak attack," of sorts, depending on how weak they are. Blasters can use moves that will effect every enemy in the immediate area, which is very useful when soloing, since you can weaken every enemy in the area and eventually kill them off (even if they decide to run away from the battles, like the cowards they are) by using projectiles to nail them down in the heat of combat.

In A Party If you are in a party as a Blaster, you will have to know your role. Blasters are amongst the worst brawlers in the game, so do not expect to be up in the frontline, taunting the enemy as if it were a puppy. If you're taking on huge enemies, you will need to stand far back and blast away at the monstrosity using your projectiles, and close in only slightly to use your mid-ranged attacks, and quickly back off of the beastly beaster. Allow your Tankers and Scrappers to fight off the tough enemies while you work your magic from way in the back. Try not to use moves that will damage every enemy in the immediate area when in a party unless told otherwise, as you may provoke more than you can bargain for. Always ask your party before doing such things.

Overview In a lot of ways, the Defender and the Controller are very similar. While Controllers cannot heal anybody (including themselves), they can enfeeble enemies, and they do it very well. They are pretty weak offensively and defensively, but their actual powers and fairly vital to the importance of surviving in a team. In a way, Controllers are exactly as their name explains: they are very well at controlling the outcome of a fight, whether it be by simply rocking an enemy into a lullaby or by holding off multiple enemies while the party takes them on one at a time, the one thing that Controllers do better than any other character class in the game is to simply make the fights a lot easier for everyone.

Playing Solo Playing all by your lonesome is also pretty tough for a Controller, much like with the Defender. You will have to seek out enemies that are much weaker than yourself, but not weak enough to the point that you do not receive any experience for your kills. As a Controller, it isn't as much of a challenge when facing enemies alone due to your ways of warping the battle itself. You've got the best enfeebling abilities in the game, so let it all hang out, brudda! Use your enfeebling abilities to wear your opponents down to the point of knocking them flat on their behinds. After all, you can even make tougher enemies look easy once you get better at it by tiring them out to the point that they fight as if they were weaker.

In A Party Controllers hold a very key element when fighting in parties. As mentioned before, no other character can make the actual battles that a party faces easier. If you have multiple enemies coming towards you aggressively, the Controller can bind them in their place and put the main target to sleep so that everything to do in the fight is a lot easier on everyone in the party. The only real problem with being a good Controller is just that: you have to be good, naturally. You must have eagle eyes for spotting a problem before it begins. Being a Controller is one of the most complicated Archtypes in the game, as most people do not have the utter patience to sit there and wait for something bad to look as if it were about to happen. The reason we say "as if it were about to happen" is because Controllers stop things before they start.

Overview The Defender is one of the most important characters in the game, and it's definitely not due to their strength. The Defenders "control" your allies health and such, and they are known as the White Mages of the game. As you could have likely guessed, in case you're out of the role-playing game lingo, White Mages are the healers of any group. The Defenders work in the same ways, and although they are very weak defensively and offensively, they will be any parties favorite character in the group due to the fact that, with a good Defender, it is highly unlikely that they will die, or yourself, for that matter. Of course, you can also take the enfeebling route, where you can cause enemies to stay in one place, making them paralyzed, slowing their turn rate, and much more. Overall, a Defender is a nice Archtype to pick. Sure, you're kind of weak, but you've got all of the goods.

Playing Solo There's not much for a Defender to do when it comes to solo work. If you chose some healing capabilities, like any normal person, you will have enough to heal yourself, and you can melee the very weak enemies down to the bone, but further than that, there isn't much in store for a soloing Defender. Luckily, you will be picked up in parties quickly enough to avoid the whole soloing problem, but if you're a bit shy, or dislike playing with others, Defender is definitely not the way to go. Nor is Controller, really. It is possible to solo, yes, but you will go at a much, much slower pace of leveling up.

In A Party The first player to be picked by a party leader is either going to be a Tanker or a Defender.Defenders are so wonderful in parties due to their healing abilities, which will win them over with other people (nothing says "Howdy" like saving the life of another person by healing them right before they croak), or you can weaken the enemy to the point that they are practically defenseless, like a geek at school being held up by a bully while the other bullies pummel the poor kid. The Defender is really a dominant force to a party, and one of the most useful in the entire game. Just remember to stand in the back of the party and perform all of your healing and enfeebling stuff, as Defenders in the front can be dangerous. After all, if your healer isn't alive, who is going to heal you? Don't worry about protection, Scrappers and Tankers will make sure you're safe.

Overview Let us guess... You can't decide what to choose, a Blaster or a Tanker, right? Well, if you dig both of those styles with a little bit of common martial arts thrown in, then the Scrapper is for you. The Scrappers are very unique and different characters, since they are a hybrid of several different Archtypes with a bit of their own personality all thrown in together. This is perfect for the player that doesn't know exactly what they want to do. While they are not as good at the given ability as the Blaster or the Tanker, they are a bit average in all categories, but they're great for soloing. Basically, if too many things sound cool, you can choose a Scrapper Archtype to fit your persona. Just don't expect to be as good as one given thing as your rival Archtype.

Playing Solo Playing alone as a Scrapper can be the most fun experience that you will have in the entire game (well, solo anyway) considering that you can do many different things. You're like a modern day superhero version of a renaissance man. Just don't get caught into large crowds of mobs, as you will certainly face death. You can provoke a single enemy into coming towards you by using Taunt, so that you will not attract too many other enemies that aggro. Picking off a single enemy at a time is the Scrapper's strength, and the Scrapper's weakness is getting caught into a huge mob of enemies. Since you can mix things up, just be sneaky in grabbing an enemy and take them out little by little. Your power is awesome, as is your defense, so you're all set if this is the case.

In A Party A Scrapper is basically the "fill-in" character in a party. If your party can't find a Tanker, or if your party can't find a Blaster, they will select you to play that role. Sometimes you can mix it up, which is also good, but don't get too chatty with the enemy. Scrappers get aggro'ed really easily by enemies, meaning that the enemy gets really angry at the Scrapper above everyone else, for whatever reason. Just make sure that you're okay, and that you remain at camp most of the time. Due to Teleport Foe and Taunt, the Scrappers make for excellent pullers in any instance. Just be prepared to be an average party filler when in groups.

Overview The Tanker is exactly that: the tank. If you've ever played practically any massive multiplayer online role-playing game, you know that what a "tank" does is get in front of the battle, takes the most damage, and can deal amongst the highest (and likely the highest, period). Basically, if you enjoy getting in the face of enemies and smashing them up, protecting your healing or weakly defensed party members behind you from getting beat up by the bigger bad guys that you face, then the Tanker is definitely the choice amongst choices. For new players to the MMORPG scene, the Tanker is the obvious choice, as you're wanted in parties and soloing is very easy to perform. Overall, one of the easier Archtypes to play as and one of the hardest to master. Highly recommended.

Playing Solo Playing solo as a Tanker is amongst the easiest Archtypes to play solo as. If you have some healing Inspirations, get ready to take on some pretty tough enemies all by yourself, and brag about it afterwards! You can dish out a lot of power, but you cannot attack enemies on the run as easily as say, a Scrapper or nearly as well as a Blaster. This is one of the Tanker's main downfalls, as quite a few solo kills will get away from you, unless you're just that good. It is best to team up rather than solo is practically all instances, as the Experience Points are better that way, but if you're looking to solo, Tanker is the second best choice out of everything (only second to the Scrapper).

In A Party The one major downfall to being in a party as a Tanker is that you MUST trust your Defender to heal you. Tanker playable character tend to be the most angsty, as if they die, it is out of their control. Their job is to attack the enemy and protect the other characters, not heal themselves. Of course, any good Defender will heal your Tanker without second thought, so the trust gap shouldn't be too much of a void in the action. After all, your job is to protect them, and theirs is to heal you. Not too much complicated, rocket-science stuff going on here. Even so, try not to go off too much on your Defender if you happen to die. Sometimes, they simply cannot heal you in time. As a Tanker, keep your attention on the enemy at all costs, and think nothing more than attacking that enemy until it dies.

When choosing an Origin, keep in mind to go with what appeals to you. You will eventually roll into the special Enhancements, which are very nice, but base your decision on what you'd be like if you were a superhero. Chances are, the Enhancements you receive will appeal to you due to your initial decision.

Finally, a role-playing game Origin in a superhero world! If you choose the Magic origin, chances are that you're into witchcraft, you're a tribal Shaman, or you frequently shop at Hot Topic. The Magicians firmly believe in using the forces of nature to conjure up something creepy to attack your enemies. The Magicians are highly spiritual, and believe in all sorts of weird crap, like tea leafs. If you're more of an RPG person than the average superhero buff, then go ahead and pick the Magic Origin, as long as it appeals to you.

The Mutant Origin is a very complex one, at that. Depending on the character you build, Mutant can be one of the most useful (and popular) Origins in the entire game. When deciding whether or not to be a Mutant, think of it like this: mutants are famous superheroes. Just look at people such as Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, or any other character from the X-Men comic series. They were mutants. If you've had your superpowers since birth, you're a mutant. You're a big freakshow, so join the circus, meat. You're an outcast from society and everyone is petrified of you or wants you lynched! Sooo, of course you want to save thousands of lives each and every day!

Superheroes? Who needs the "Super" aspect of that? You're the Arrogant Guy! And the Arrogant Guy does what the Arrogant Guy says! Those "super" zeros keep trying to steal the spotlight from the Arrogant Guy? Well the Arrogant Guy will put on a cape and outshow those "super" freaks! If you choose the Natural Origin, you will be taking the same route as such prolific heroes as Batman or the Punisher. You're likely upset or distraught over all of the crime in the world, or you're bent of revenge from a villain that stole your true love, killed your family, or some other form of grief. Either way, just don't turn into the Arrogant Guy.

Some of the best superheroes ever are made from the Science Origin, and you'd better recognize! Homeplate-stealing Spider-man was a man of Science superhero-ism, as was the pretty-in-green creation, the Incredible Hulk. So if you'd like a hit summer action movie that will sell a lot of merchandise, you'd better choose the Science category. Or if you were exposed to a biological freak accident or an extreme amount of radiation, or if you know... a spider bit your hand.

Oh no, the aliens are attacking! Wait, those aren't aliens. Those are robots from a 1950s B-sci-fi flick, and they are playable characters in City Of Heroes! As you could have guessed, Technology is based around cyborgs, robots, Dr. Phil, or whatever you'd like to call them. Unlike their human counterparts, the robots can inbed microchips that give them super strength, high intelligence, and the whole nine yards that make them superhuman. At least that's their excuse for not being as talented and sexy as we are.